JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. (April 17, 2013) – The ETSU women’s golf team is once again the class of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

For the second time in program history, the Buccaneers captured the conference championship thanks to a tournament total of 880, holding off defending champion Kennesaw State on the final day of competition Wednesday at the Jekyll Island Golf Club’s Pine Lakes Course.

Individually, the Bucs placed three players in the top seven on the leaderboard, led by a second-place effort by junior Sian Evans (Gillingham, England) and a third-place showing by sophomore Gabrielle Wahl (Heidenheim, Germany). Evans finished at 2-under-par for the tournament, while Wahl ended the event at 1-under. Meanwhile, true freshman Vivienne Chin (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia) finished seventh and was 1-over-par for the championships.

Evans and Wahl both earned all-tournament honors, and with the victory ETSU will make its third trip to the NCAA Championships in the last six seasons – with two automatic bids (2008 and 2013) and one at-large bid (2010).

“Bringing the Atlantic Sun Conference title back to ETSU has been a goal each year since winning in 2008,” said ETSU head coach Stefanie Shelton. “Each year our teams have battled and we have just fallen short. This year, we were determined and dominated from the start. This team remained composed and played their hearts out each day.

“It feels so go to be rewarded for their hard work all year and great to accomplish another goal this year.”

The Bucs finished six strokes ahead of the Owls (886) after beginning the championship on Monday by setting the low total for the opening round and the low first-round total (287). However, ETSU’s six-stroke victory did not tell the whole story from Wednesday’s final round of play.

ETSU could have in fact won by as many as 16 strokes, but senior Chloe Garner (Somerset West, South Africa) failed to sign her scorecard following her round and was subsequently disqualified. That oversight resulted in a 10-stroke difference in the Bucs’ final score.

The Bucs will advance to a yet to be determined location to compete in the NCAA Regionals. For more on ETSU women’s golf throughout the NCAA regionals and national competition, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s golf link.